But nobody can deny that this week he was absolutely magnificent against Jack Straw’s continued efforts to hide behind a wall of lies over the invasion of Iraq:

Andrew Mackinlay (Thurrock) (Lab): Has the Justice Secretary looked behind him to see that there are only two office holders?”a Parliamentary Private Secretary and the Church Commissioner?”who support him? Not a single one of his hon. Friends is here endorsing him today. Could it be that they are ashamed and embarrassed by this announcement? Will he not reflect on the fact, which really is breathtaking, that he, who clearly was one of the people who piloted this policy and persuaded us?”I remember him, as it is photographed on my mind, promising that we would get the second UN resolution?”should also decide that those documents should not be available? It is appalling.

It is also a bad day for Parliament when we get synthetic anger from the Opposition, who are cosying up?”the Privy Council club closing down debate and discussion on things that must be revealed.

I bear the scars of having trusted the Prime Minister on this matter and I shall take to the grave the fact that I regret having listened to the porky pies and the stories of the Intelligence and Security Committee and of the Prime Minister. I shall regret it to the day I die. I should never, ever have trusted them.

The closing of ranks by New Labour and the Conservatives to frustrate the Information Tribunal’s decision to release the Cabinet discussion that led us to war, simply illustrates the astonishing democratic deficit in the UK which enabled bellicose politicians to launch an illegal war in the first place.

I was deeply frustrated last night watching Question Time, where there was again a general closing of ranks by Labour, Tories and the Political editor of the Sun, offset only by a nice but inarticulate Lib-Dem non-entity. Everyone sagely agreed that it was necessary for participants to be assured of secrecy, or they would not be able to give their best advice.

Nobody countered this argument, which has been rolled out by almost the entire mainstream media. But it is nonsense. Is advice which of which somebody might be ashamed and which cannot stand up to public scrutiny always the best advice? Does the best government really thrive only in the darkest of corners, operating by subterfuge? I worked in government for over twenty years, including in some pretty senior positions working with intelligence and military affairs. I never gave any advice that I would not have been prepared to defend robustly and openly.

Indeed advice which you would not be prepared to defend robustly seems axiomatically more likely to be flawed.

The obsession of the British establishment with the view that the best government is hidden government must be challenged. What it does of course is to permit government for motives and interests they don’t want the rest of us to know about.

50 thoughts on “Andrew Mackinlay is Magnificent”

Just examine that statement again would you? Anyone with a passing interest in the case knows that he was under severe stress. He was a weak man who was out of his depth. All the evidence points towards suicide as Writerman has indicated.

Great article George. This caught my eye, and I couldn’t put it better myself.

“..someone who is labeled a “conspiracy theorist” is suffering from some type of psychological disorder” – quite so.

How is your pal Tommy Sheridan now that he is being prosecuted? And I hear that your other pal George Galloway is having problems with his convoy to Gaza – apparently the Islamists on the trip don’t like the notion of women playing any kind of leadership role and they haven’t been getting the rousing recption they were expecting in Libya and Tunisia apparently. Ho hum. Well at least the USA is giving the Gazans £600 million.

George I don’t recognise “The Firm” but you only have to read the responses to that article to realise that there is a huge dose of scepticism about its contents. Nice try though. And any more thoughts on your convoy? Several billion has now been pledged to Gaza from western countries. I wonder what the paltry impact of your convoy will be. Gesture politics eh?

I’ve had enough of Labour and Tory working together to benefit both themselves and corporations, while disadvantaging the rest of us.

By way of protest, I refused to register to vote last year, and got threatened with a large fine.

I never thought I would do this, but as I’m being forced to register to vote – that not even a mild protest is allowed anymore in this country – I’m going to vote BNP.

I’m not a racist, I detest the BNP, but I’ve been left with no choice. Labour/Tory abuse of power has to stop. And as protests aren’t listened to anymore, the only thing that will work is to bring in a completely new party at the next general election.

Labour = Tory. Tory = Labour. Both parties need to be destroyed. They’ve betrayed those that voted for them, as well as the country generally.

Had a quick look at your site. Wow! I can’t decide if you are far left or far right? Do you even know yourself? I’m not sure where Holocaust denial sits on the political spectrum these days. Sounds to me like you would be as comfortable in a BNP meeting as an SWP one.

It depends what rag you read. Shame you can’t even spell. Lier? Perhaps we need to rebuild Hadrian’s Wall to protect the gene pool. Lol indeed. So you support idiots who promote Holocaust denial do you? Have you had a look at his website – it’s sicko stuff. Please tell me you don’t support his views.

“George Galloway was given a triumphant welcome today as he led an aid convoy into the impoverished Gaza Strip after a month-long journey across Europe and North Africa to the Hamas-ruled enclave.”

“Having been made to wait for a day at the southern Rafah border crossing by Egyptian authorities, the staunchly pro-Palestinian Respect MP for Bethnal Green was finally allowed into the blockaded territory, where he was handed flowers and kissed by Palestinian well-wishers.”

“Mr Galloway and his companions fell to their knees and bowed to the ground as they walked in.”

“I have entered Palestine many times but the most emotional of these is after the 22-day genocidal aggression against the Palestinian people,” he said, referring to Israel’s offensive to end Palestinian rocket fire and smash Hamas.”…